Blush
by stuckbeingrachel
Summary: Jerome Clarke thinks back to the day he fell in love with Mara Jaffray.


**Well, here we go, a new one-shot and it's a Jara! Eehee...Enjoy! PLEASE REVIEW!**

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Jerome Clarke loved Mara Jaffray. It was a fact that everyone knew, including Mara. He would say it every day and almost every time they kissed, which was very often. But the one thing that Jerome had never told anyone was the reason that he fell in love with Mara in the first place.

Surprisingly, it wasn't her smile or her eyes, her hair or her laugh, not her intelligence or her many different sides. Though, those are her best traits and he loved them all, the one thing that made him fall for her was her blush.

That blush, the light tint of red that spread across her cheeks, or sometimes, just her nose or her neck. The minute Jerome had first seen that blush he'd fallen—hard. And the first time he'd seen it, he was the cause. That might be one of the reasons she ever blushed and why he loved it so much. But it didn't matter to Jerome. It didn't matter who or what had caused it, just as long as he saw it.

When he first had seen it, it was her first year at school, when they were thirteen years old…

_Jerome raced to the dining room table for breakfast, beating his best friend, Alfie, by a second. Patricia and Joy gave them annoyed glances and Amber didn't even look up from her phone. Fabian chuckled at them and Mick did the same as the two, stuffing their faces. Trudy bustled into the room and they ceased their eating._

"_We're going to have a new housemate come in today, sweeties. She'll be here—" the doorbell interrupted what she was about to say and smiled. "That should be her."_

_A few minutes later after Jerome and Alfie had finished their servings, they stood and were about to leave the room when Trudy walked in with a short girl with long dark brown hair. Her big brown eyes flitted across the room with a shy smile playing on her pink lips. She was dressed in the school uniform. Blazer straight and ironed, light grey cardigan and white collared shirt, buttoned to the first one, underneath it, her tie hung loosely around her neck and her black skirt came just a few inches above her knees._

"_Everyone, this is Mara Jaffray, she's our new housemate. Make yourself at home, sweetie."_

"_Thank you," Mara said softly and Trudy hurried back into the kitchen._

"_Well, hi there! I'm Alfie Lewis." he held his hand out to her and Mara let out a small giggle, shaking his hand gently._

"_Fabian Rutter," the brunette spoke up._

"_Amber Millington, your new roommate." She grinned happily._

"_Patricia Williamson."_

"_Joy Mercer."_

"_Mick Campbell; cute pigtails." the blonde tugged on one as he brushed past her._

"_Lay off, Campbell, she's new." Jerome snapped._

"_And what's a twig going to do about it?" Mick smirked, giving Jerome a once over._

_Jerome smirked back at him. "You don't know what I can do."_

_Mick scoffed and stalked off._

_As the others got up to leave, Jerome grabbed an apple and offered her one. She took it from him with a quiet 'thank you', and headed outside._

"_I'm Jerome Clarke by the way." the blonde said, jogging ahead until he fell into step with her. He took a bite of his green apple and brushed his fringe out of his ice blue eyes._

_She jumped slightly and hugged her books tighter to her chest, looking up at him. He was very tall for a thirteen year old. He was about 5 foot 5 inches and she was a couple inches shorter than five feet. _

"_It's nice to meet you, Jerome."_

"_You're lucky, you know." he said after a moment. _

_She cast him a curious sideways glance. She was slowly becoming comfortable around this tall blonde boy. His skin was pale and flawless and his hair was shaggy and fell over his forehead. He wore the school uniform just like everyone else but he didn't wear the blazer, it was neatly hung over his satchel that was strung over his shoulder and across his chest. _

"_Why?"_

"_You'll get a lot of friends pretty quickly. You're pretty, you look really smart, and you'll fit in with several of the girls in no time." he promised her._

"_Oh," she sighed, scratching her eyebrow._

"_Jerome!" Alfie called from the other side of the yard. "I've got an awesome idea!"_

"_That's my cue. I'll see you later?"_

_Mara nodded with a quiet hum and he smiled. _

"_If you ever need a friend, I'm here. I'm always here." he mumbled to himself._

_The last part intrigued Mara and she was about to ask what he meant but decided against it. "Thank you."_

_Jerome turned to her before walking away and sent her a quick wink. Then, as he turned away, the biggest grin he'd ever had on his face appeared. She had blushed. It was a simple light shade of red that peeked on her tan cheeks, giving her an innocent school girl look. He ran a hand through his hair and looked back at her, surprised to find her sneaking a quick glance at him. Her cheeks deepened to a beautiful shade of crimson and she turned away from him._

Jerome chuckled at the memory. Their 'friendship' hadn't taken off until they were fifteen and then it crumbled before building back up again a year later, and then they were dating. He still had a hard time grasping the fact that Mara had said yes to him.

He looked over at the girl sitting next to him on his bed. She tapped her cheek lightly with the eraser of her pencil and bit her lip in thought.

"1332 B.C." he stated.

Her head shot up and she looked at him with an adorable confused expression. At least, that's what Jerome thought.

"King Tutankhamun came onto the throne in 1332 B.C, he reined until 1323 B.C. I've already finished." He answered her questioning glance.

"What? How is it that you always finish before me, I'm actually focusing while you're sitting there with a dopy expression on your face, daydreaming."

"I did not have a dopy expression on my face." Jerome scoffed.

"Then why are you blushing?" Mara giggled.

"I'm not blushing," he retorted.

She reached out and touched his cheek with the palm of her hand. "Then you're getting a fever, you're burning up."

Jerome stood up and looked at the mirror in the corner of the room. Sure enough, his pale cheeks had tinted a light pink. His blue eyes widened. That can't happen. He's Jerome Clarke. Jerome Clarke doesn't blush.

"What?" he nearly yelled at his reflection.

"What's wrong?"

"Th-this, I'm not supposed to blush. I-I can't start blushing."

"Oh, come on, maybe it's only around me. Like the way I do with you." Mara suggested, getting up to stand next to him. She wrapped her arms around his side and hugged him close to her.

"Wait, what do you mean." He moved away from her, turning and looking her in the eyes.

"Well, I always blush around you. I mean, it didn't matter who I was with before I met you, but I only blush around you or the mention of 'how in love we are', in the words of Amber. When you blush it makes you look so boyish it's cute." She said with a giggle, placing a hand on his now cooling cheek. It was still colored though and Jerome prayed no one would walk in at that moment.

"I'm not a boy, Mara. I'm a man." He raised an eyebrow at her and bent down, kissing her neck. A blush rose to her cheeks and Jerome couldn't stop the grin that grew on his face.

"What?" she asked warily.

"You're blushing," he whispered. "You're so beautiful when you blush."

Her cheeks darkened and his grin grew a fraction.

"Have you ever wondered…" he drifted off.

"Wondered what…?" she said hesitantly.

"Why I fell in love with you?" he finished.

Mara sighed and stepped away from him, taking a seat on the edge of his bed. "No. I don't. I don't want to. I'm afraid that if I know, I might become self-conscious or something and then ruin it and then you'll—"

"No, you can't mess it up. You know why?" he asked, kneeling down in front of her, hands resting on the bed on either side of her hips. She was trapped, both in between his arms and in the conversation.

She shrugged.

"Because, you just told me that you always do it around me or at the mention of 'how in love we are'." He told her.

"What do you mean?"

"I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you blush. Back when you first came to school. You blushed when I winked at you. You looked so amazing. And every time you blush I fall in love with you all over again. I'll never stop loving you as long as you never stop blushing." He winked at her and her fading cheeks flamed up again. He grinned and his heart fluttered. He hated to admit it, but he felt the strangest things when she blushed. He felt nervous and insecure, things that he tried to shut out of his feelings; they always came raining down on him when she blushed.

"My blushing made you fall in love with Me." she said slowly.

"Don't ask me why, because I don't know. Maybe, it's because when you blush your whole face lights up and all of your best features come out even more beautiful than before. Maybe, it's because I just like that I'm the only one that can make you blush. I don't know why. But, on top of the blushing, your eyes, your hair, your laugh, your smile…" he moved closer, his lips not even a centimeter away from Mara's. "I love everything about you."

"I'm blushing right now, aren't I?" she asked knowingly. **(A/N: ****REVIEW PLEASE! It doesn't take that long to say "you did well" or to say you hate it! So, type something down plllllllleeeeeaaaaassssseeee !)**

"Yes, you are; you're incredibly gorgeous, and I love you." Jerome said softly, and with each word his lips gently brushed against hers, and his breath caressed them.

"I love you, too." Mara giggled.

Jerome closed the gap and pushed his lips into hers. She immediately responded with the same amount of passion and love that he pressed into that one sweet kiss. They pulled away and Mara brushed some of his blonde fringe out of his eyes.

"You're blushing again." he stated in a husky whisper, a smirk playing on his swollen lips.

"So are you." she retorted with a smirk as well, and then she kissed him.

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**So. How'd y'all like it? Let me know! I love making Jerome blush, it's awesome! Anyway...REVIEW!**

**Um, if any of you don't have the same religion as me and gets ticked off by my constant ranting about it, please, go look at my profile. One of the first things on there is a message for all of you!**

_**And notw I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. -Acts 20:32**_

**God bless! Love y'all!**

**-Rachel**


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